


Rumor Has It

by Lynn_StarDragon



Series: Unexpected Consequences [1]
Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Dark, Disturbing Themes, Gen, Horror, Nightmare Fuel, Suspense, graphic description of death, mature themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2018-01-01 08:17:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1042502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynn_StarDragon/pseuds/Lynn_StarDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the Boogeyman defeated fear should be on the decline. It is, but that doesn't mean all is right with the human world. With the King of Fear dethroned something has to fill the void left behind.</p><p>Now, a new and deadly threat is targeting more than just the children. </p><p>Their only clues lie in the details of an old obscure Urban Legend that doesn't ever have a happy ending.<br/>If the Guardians want to rewrite the fate they have wrought upon the families of their believers, they may have to dig up some very unlikely help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rumor Has It

**Author's Note:**

> My Beta reader Vihtalaini urged me to get into horror. Thank her if you like this.

 

Even on the quietest of days Santoff Claussen buzzed like a madhouse with activity. Yetis were constantly at work in the shop crafting toys and in the kitchens cooking to feed the army of hungry bellies that staffed the wintery locale and Elves were always underfoot 'helping' to test out the durability of anything made. 

Today was not a typical day. 

Work proceeded smoothly and all was as well as could be expected within the workshop, but the abnormalities that set even the yetis on edge today had nothing to do with any instances 'in-house' and everything to do with North and his dealings with the human world. The Boogeyman was out of power and hadn't attempted to stir up any trouble but there was still a lingering pervasive unease that managed to penetrate even the cosy wall's of North's home. Of course with no discernible source of what was off with the world the toy maker dealt with his unsettled thoughts in the only way readily available to him: he threw himself into his work with gusto and took a more active role on the workshop floor rather than just carving prototypes in the seclusion of his office like usual. 

The Yetis could function perfectly well on their own and only occasionally needed his input only on certain managerial choices. Today, however, the Cossack was nitpicking at every aspect of the massive toy production process for every single production line, and sometimes more than one line at once. The focus of his current inspections were some semi-animatronic, remote-controlled, dinosaurs that came in all colors, shapes, and sizes but that just wasn't enough for Nicholas, not today anyway. They needed something more, something extra wonderful to make up for the strange sourceless unease ceaselessly gnawing at his gut. But what? The longer he stood over them scrutinizing their parts, the less and less he could find to improve. The Yetis had outdone themselves as always, what more could he ask? 

The revelation suddenly hit him like a bolt out of the blue, while he was pretending to inspect a neon blue triceratops, and a wide smile split his face. "Dinosaur toys must be bigger! Want them large enough for children to ride. Like Ponies!" 

A yeti turned and garbled something at him suspiciously. 

North considered the idea. "Was not thinking that, but am sure little children would like bigger little ponies too. Bigger little Ponies and Dinosaurs for all!" 

With that the yetis grumbled in their usual exasperation at North's sudden, but all too common, last minute demands and went back to work as usual. Before much headway on the new demand could be made, however, a familiar golden streak flew through the workshop careening wildly towards the control panels for the globe. When it came to a stop the flying objects resolved themselves into a panicked Sandy and the unconscious body of the Tooth Fairy, attended by some of her smaller mini-selves, atop a cloud of dream-sand. Like the Sandman all of the little fairies were frantic and fussed over their 'big sister' and work in the immediate areas surrounding the pair ground to a complete halt as the yetis and elves occupying said space turned their full attention to their new guests. 

North himself was already bounding over with great strides. "Sandy? What is happening? Get Tooth to medical wing!" 

Sandy shook his head 'no' and continued to prod at the machines until he found the plunger to activate the aurora borealis. As soon as he found it he lunged for the control and set the cosmic light show into motion, calling the other Guardians to the pole. 

"Sandy!" North clapped his hands on the dreamweaver's shoulders and forced the short star to look him in the eyes. "What. Is. Happening?" 

Sandy started to spin out symbols and images at a breakneck pace. All the Christmas spirit could make out was, "Tooth was upset. Very upset. So, you... knocked her out with dream-sand?" Sandy nodded, causing the Yetis who had been hovering nearby to back away. If she was sleeping rather than hurt they wouldn't be needed. "Still not seeing why you are in _big_ panic, but is good to be--" Sandy sighed and just let some of his sands trail out and over Tooth's head to give shape to her dreams. 

In it a little girl was crying and sobbing as she ran from... something. Whatever it was clearly had the girl terrified, and she kept looking back to see what it was or how close it had gotten. The little girl ran and ran until she fell and could run no more. Then the sobs turned into screams, with the small child clawing at her own face trying to tear out her eyes rather than see whatever it was that frightened her so. The 'dream' ended with the girl slumping to the ground. Sandy pulled his sands back before another dream could start. 

The larger spirit shivered. "Why did sand not... change? From gold to black or... other? This was not a happy dream." 

Sandy could only shrug and point to the lights above their heads. Maybe Bunnymund would know, and they had to let Jack know what had happened. 

"Agreed." North reiterated aloud for the other beings present in the room. "We wait for everyone to gather, fill them in. Then will just have to wait for Tooth to wake and tell us herself." The Cossack turned to look towards the moon. "Just hope everyone gets here soon..." 

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- 

A gentle breeze carrying the soothing scent of lavender wafted by Toothiana's nose. It filled her senses and grounded her in the now, where she was laying on something comfortably firm which wasn't hurting her wings. It had been forever since she had been able to lay down on her back, so it was only a little odd that she would do so now. Had she fallen asleep? Then that would mean everything had just been an awful dream, which was more than a welcome turn of events. She would just have to not go so long between naps to prevent such horrible visions from invading her sleep. 

Toothiana's amethyst eyes fluttered open. 

Light filtered in from above and around her, just like in Punjam Hy Loo. Unlike home, however, there was dense foliage above and around where she was. The Tooth Palace sat wholly above the trees nestled in the canopy of the surrounding jungles. So if she was in a place filled with lights and plants... 

"So, you're awake." The upper half of Aster's body came into view as the pooka bent over her. "Gave us all quite a scare, ya did. Said we should bring you here to rest since it's quieter than red's shop, and more like your own place." 

The fairy queen slowly looked around. "We're in the Warren?" 

"We're in the Warren, yeah." The Easter Bunny shuffled closer to her side, offering a steadying paw. "You remember finding Sandy?" 

"I," she took the paw up, "maybe. Did he use his dream-sand on me?" She was still hopeful it was all just a product of her sleeping mind. 

"He did, a bit. Said you were in a state and he wanted to help you calm down. The others are here if you wanna talk with them. We're all right worried about you." 

The Tooth Fairy looked blankly ahead of her at some of the surrounding rocks. Then it had all been real... The idea was too much for her and she began to sob again, holding her knees to her chest. Bunnymund tried to comfort her, to find out what the matter was, but the other Guardians thundered over hot on the heels of the mini-teeth who had felt Toothiana's distress. The tiny fairies all wanted to help her, and began to hum soothing songs which had done so in the past. This wasn't enough to completely stem the flow of tears, but Toothiana gradually became less hysterical as the other Guardians also gathered close as they could to offer support. 

It was Jack who finally managed to ask, "What's got you so... What happened? What's _wrong_?" 

"The teeth!" The feathered warrior wailed. 

"Is someone trying to take them again?" Bunnymund asked worriedly. 

"No! It's the memories, the memories _inside_ the teeth!" And she went back to sobbing into her hands as she leaned heavily against the large rabbit. 

The others all looked at each other before North bent low and stroked a gentle hand over her shoulders. "Tooth? You are needing to start over. From the beginning, so we can understand, please." She shuddered under his touch. "Please, we want to help." 

Another sob wracked her slender frame before she nodded slightly. "Just, just give me a moment." She breathed deep to steady herself. "Bunny? I need some chocolate. The strong kind." 

Everything in the Warren seemed to go unsettlingly still at that. Even the playful Spring Breeze sputtered out because the Tooth Fairy, queen of dental hygiene, had just asked for sugary snacks from the Easter Bunny. 

Said bunny just stared down at the woman like she'd said the world was coming to an end. "S...sure." He carefully reached into his bandolier and pulled out some of his top quality emergency rations. It wasn't like he'd need to shape-shift again any time soon... He handed the sweets over to Toothiana and watched her swallow the first chocolate egg whole. 

She sighed blissfully. "That's better." 

"What did you think of it?" 

"Bunny," North hissed, "no time for that now. Ask later." 

The Easter spirit chose not to argue for the sake of Toothiana's tenuous hold on her emotions. 

"You all know why I collect the teeth of children," she began in a mellow tone, "Important memories are inside teeth, but they aren't all... _happy_." 

Jack grimaced as he thought about the memory of the day he died then was subsequently reborn. Yep, important but not all happy.  

"What you don't now is... I don't collect _just_ children's teeth." She looked up. "My main work is with children, so my main focus is children, so all the other spirits ever hear me go on about is... children. But adults and animals lose them too. I have sections for everything, including if a tooth is healthy or rotten or starting to rot." She could see Jack about to speak up but Sandy put a hand on his arm to stop him. Toothiana gave a pained smile. "Okay, that's not--I'm getting to my point. Which is, I don't like looking at the rotten teeth or teeth of adults. Children's memories are almost always so pure and vivid, and when they live happy lives they have this light that just fills me up. But when they don't have happy lives," she shuddered, "I know we can't save them from everything, but there are so many days I want to. And that has everything to do with this. 

"My girls brought in a large number of teeth from a small sector, all from the same town, in Maine. Hockey is big up there, so nothing too funny about that." She added offhandedly. "Only, some of the teeth are from children too young to play, and it's a lot of teeth. And the girls didn't look too happy to be carrying them. They were upset and the teeth had more blood and gum and _things_ on them than if they were just knocked out, so I took a look." Here the Tooth Fairy had to stop and eat another egg, sucking on the chocolate slowly before chewing and swallowing the melted remains. 

"Okay, ya just have to breathe." Bunny rubbed her arms in a soothing motion to try and relax all the tension and bad feelings away. 

She shook her head resolutely,"I can't--the memories are too _awful_ for me to," Toothiana took a moment to center herself again, "The teeth had plenty of memories in them. There was more than one tooth per person. At least one of each person's tooth had a memory of them _dying_. And not just dying, being scared and alone and horrified that they were about to die." The fairy queen had to pause and breathe again, lest she return to sobbing. "No natural deaths. Nothing but pure, blind, terror. Some of the children's teeth had fuzzy images of _something_ **_inhuman_** chasing them. They were all running and scared and if they weren't running there was just this sudden wave of sickening fear and then nothing after." She had to close her eyes and steady her breathing, forcing herself to relax and her feathers to smooth down again. "I mean, so many humans die each day, but I don't get this many teeth from them all at once, usually. I can only guess whatever killed them, or however they died, involved them losing all or most of their teeth." She opened her eyes to gaze at each other Guardian in turn with a stricken look. "Because if they were pulled out afterwards as trophies, my girls wouldn't have been able to get them. But this thing, whatever it is, must have put the teeth under the pillows... _after_." What kind of spirit would kill so indiscriminately but be conscientious enough to place the teeth where they could be collected? Or was is an act of malice to taunt the fairies and drive home the fact that they couldn't protect their charges all the time? 

Bunnymund, North, and Sandy all grimaced and looked at each other. It couldn't have been pleasant to live through that many other people's deaths as if you were them, or watch as a helpless third party. Perhaps the being knew that and placed the teeth where they could be found for that very reason. Jack looked a little ill having a better understanding of what she had lived through, and pushed his way forward to give the feathered woman a hug. "Yeah, that... that must've sucked. A lot." He didn't want to ask, so he wouldn't, not yet. "We're here. I'm... I don't know how to help, but I'm here, you know? You're gonna be okay." 

"But there were so _many!"_ She cried out in distress. "So many and not natural and, I don't think humans were responsible for any of those deaths." 

Jack apprehensively bit his lip. He had wanted to just not ever ask, but life was clearly not being kind today. "How many?" 

The fairy queen was looking at the last chocolate egg as if contemplating its milky depths would reveal an explanation for why everything had happened. "Nineteen," she murmured quietly, "plus four children--two, three, fifteen and seventeen." Her gaze flicked upwards again. "I don't think the children were related to each other but they were related to other... victims, according to the memories." 

The words were like a stone dropping into the pit of her stomach, and she could see the others visibly react with shock. In the grand scheme of things the numbers were negligible compared to how many humans died and were born each day, each hour even. But what was disconcerting was the concentration of unnatural deaths that did not seem to be caused by a mortal serial killer or some kind of phenomenon. If another spirit was involved and they were terrifying their victims to death, including children, something had to be done before things got out of hand. They didn't need someone trying to cut their power, or start spirit turf wars, or involving their believers in any harmful way with their goals. 

"So, Maine you said?" Bunnymund was the first to recover his voice, though he was still visibly shaken. 

"Yes." Toothiana sighed. "Within the last day too, because I only just got the teeth." Her girls could only collect them at night... usually. 

"We all go together. Strength in numbers." North suggested somberly. 

No one wanted to think about what it meant if a certain fear spirit was involved. 

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- 

Several hours later had them speaking with some of the local spirits of Aroostook County, Maine. The Guardians had followed the spotty information trail about panicked humans down to a little wooded town in the middle of nowhere. Truly there was next to nothing in or around the town, the area was sparsely populated and it was amazing people even had neighbors to know. It was the perfect place for wild things and spirits unconcerned with the human world, just close enough to feed from them without getting so near as to be drawn into their daily lives. There was the edge of the untamed, the unknown and supernatural, in the air. 

Some of that foreboding still hung heavy over the first 'attacked' house they came to. 

The mini-teeth had been the ones to point it out, but the police tape would have been a clear enough indication that they were on the right track. 

"Well, looks like we start here, huh?" Jack casually observed. "So," he turned back to his fellow Guardians, "how do we go about things now? The police are all over the house but we don't really need to go inside there, right?" 

Sandy shook his head, nothing the humans found would be of use. Let them have their mortal investigation while they asked around with more local spirits and children. If that turned up nothing they could come back to the empty house later and see if there was anything they could sense. Bunnymund was the one to kindly translate the finer points of his idea to the others for him. 

"Right, then, spirits so far have seen nothing. So, we find children. On to nearest school!" North prompted. Some of the others winced. "What? Is good idea." 

"There might be children in _this_ area." Toothiana offered. "Or maybe spirits here who might have witnessed something." 

North conceded the possibility and the five of them tentatively dispersed to cover more ground, each of them with one or more fairies to keep in contact with the others. They weren't going to go very far from each other, nor were they going to engage whatever was responsible (if it was a spirit) on their own, but the overcast light of day gave them a sense of security in their actions. 

In the end, Toothiana found out that one of the household was still alive, a girl at the tender age of eight. She was currently in police custody, waiting to be sent to either child services or her closest relatives. She gathered up the other Guardians and they all headed for where the only living witness was said to be staying.

 

 

The police station wasn't all that large, not like the ones in bustling cities with high crime rates. The town's station was little more than a small box, more like a sheriff's office with room for some additional staff. Finding the child inside was painfully easy, but she was at an age where the adults didn't want to leave her unattended for long. Jack, Sandy, and Bunnymund worked on distracting the older mortals while Toothiana and North went to see the child. 

The young girl was wrapped up in a blanket, sitting with her feet pulled up on the chair and knees tucked against her chest. Her pale green eyes were locked onto the floor, an untouched coloring book and other forms of entertainment (most likely provided by the cops) lay forgotten around her. 

Toothiana approached her once she was sure none of the adults would notice the girl speaking with 'thin air'. "Hello." The girl didn't react right away. 

North came over, giving the young one a scrutinizing look. "This one is a believer, and on the nice list. Am thinking her name is," he touched his arm over where the corresponding tattoo rested, "Emily." 

At the sound of her name, Emily blinked and slowly looked up to see who was bothering her now. It took her a moment to register who and what she was seeing, but when she did she gasped and a bit of life came back to her eyes. "Are you the Tooth Fairy?" 

"Yep," she smiled, "that's me. And I think you know this guy." 

"Santa Clause." She breathed out in awe. "Is it true? Do you both know the Easter Bunny and the Sandman?" 

"We do." North confirmed with a smile. 

"And Jack Frost?" 

Jack poked his head through the open door. "Someone call me?" 

"Keep your head in the game, frostbite!" Cried the disembodied voice of Bunnymund from a hall away. 

"Sorry guys," Jack winced, "it'd be easier if we could just have Sandy knock everyone out, but--" 

"It would endanger child. We are knowing this, Jack. Go help Bunny before he hurts himself." The winter spirit chuckled at North's words but ducked out of the room all the same. The former bandit turned back to see the girl smiling just a tiny bit, and it warmed his heart that she still could. 

"So the stories are true." Emily's face darkened for a moment. "Then that means a few years ago... did you all really fight off that scary guy trying to eat the sun?" 

"Ah, well, we did fight off a scary guy but he just wanted to spread darkness and fear." Toothiana tried not to laugh at how the story regarding Pitch Black's attempted coup had twisted over the years. At least this version sounded almost accurate. 

"You might need to fight off someone even scarier." The young girl stared to pull in on herself again. 

North cast about for something to help cheer her up without having to resort to his magic and presents which would be difficult for the child to explain away. His eyes landed on a water cooler with a hot water tap and an idea began to form. "Will be right back." He headed over to the dispenser before either of the females could ask what he was thinking. 

Now alone with Emily, the fairy queen gave the child her undivided attention. "You can bet we will fight whoever off. But what makes you say that? Is this about what happened?" 

The young believer nodded emphatically. "It was just like the rumors. They say she's looking for someone to play with, and she'll go into houses with lots of people. But if you play a game with her, you die. I noticed her outside my house. I didn't mean to, but it was late and she was just standing there." Emily lowered her voice. "She didn't look right. She didn't look... _alive._ " She shivered and curled deeper into the blanket around her. "She was just standing there, just standing and looking at my house. Mom and dad had come home from the movies and I was supposed to be getting ready for bed. I was, but I just... felt something was wrong. Then it was like there was something at the corner of my eye and when I looked out the window there was this girl there. She looked like she had been standing in the rain all night. But when I really noticed her, she looked up like she really noticed me. Just looking in her eyes made me want to scream." 

North came back then, seeing that Emily was very upset. "Here, drink. Will make you fell little better." He handed over a steaming cup of real hot chocolate. There had been some of the instant variety laying around, but the adults probably didn't know how many were left. Even if they did it didn't matter since he had made it with his magic and infused it with a healthy dose of good cheer. 

Emily took the cup gratefully and sipped at its contents slowly. "It's good." She sighed and looked down into the depths of the drink like the milky swirls could explain what was to happen with her life now. "I ran away. When I saw her eyes I ran away from the window and right into my bed. I crawled under my covers, shut my eyes, and pretended I was asleep. If you're asleep she won't play a game with you. I thought she would leave me and the house alone but," she sniffled, "she didn't." The young girl paused long enough to take another sip. "I heard my bedroom door open, but I stayed where I was. Then I heard _it_." 

"Heard what?" Toothiana couldn't help but ask. 

"Really soft, like a kid saying it. Just one word, 'rawr'." Emily shivered again. "I stayed quiet, you're supposed to stay quiet when she does that. Everyone says so. She says it and if you answer she'll say it again, but it won't be as nice." She looked up at both the Guardians in a pleading fashion. "I did like the story said. I stayed quiet, she should have left, but instead... instead," her eyes teared up, "she went into mom and dad's room. She went in, and said 'rawr'. Dad woke up and asked who she was and what she was doing in there and..." the tears started to fall. 

"Oh, oh you poor thing." Toothiana carefully pulled the little human into an embrace. North soon followed suit, unable to see a child suffering and not do _something_ to comfort them. 

It was many long moments before Emily was able to speak more. "She said 'rawr' again. Only it wasn't like a kid saying it that time. It was loud and quiet and big and scary and more like a lion. A hissing lion. Or thunder and an elephant. Something a little girl or a person couldn't do. And then everyone else at home started screaming and screaming and then they all stopped, one by one. They just... stopped. I stayed quiet and kept pretending to be asleep. I thought she might have left but I was scared, so I kept pretending until I fell asleep for real. When I woke up it was kinda light out so I went to get mom and dad. I hoped... I really hoped." She turned to burry her face into the warm fluff of North's coat. 

The two Guardians looked at each other with grim expressions. Emily didn't need to finish her story for them to know how it ended. The police probably didn't believe everything she was telling them, but they weren't the police and they knew about things that could do just what she had described. For the sake of Emily, and any other children who could end up like her, they had to get to the bottom of this. 

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- 

After hearing Emily's story they had promised to do something about the spirit who had hurt her family. Toothiana and North had been somber as they gathered up the others and lead the way back out into the world. Now that they had more details to go on, they found they had no idea where else to start looking. Neither of them recognized the description of that child spirit. All they could do now was stay in the area and ask the local spirits if they knew anything about her. But so few of them had seen anything before, it felt like it would be a long shot they would be of more help now. 

"So," Jack started conversationally, "went through some files, while we were distracting the cops." The quiet had stretched on too long, making him fidgety like at long meetings. 

"Did you?" Toothiana forced a bit of a smile. 

"Yeah, it looked like they were comparing what happened with other cases." North perked up and the Tooth Fairy's smile became less forced and more curious. "It sounds like they think this is being done by a serial killer who uses fear to give his victims heart attacks, or... drive them to kill themselves. It also looks like this isn't the first place hit. There are records going back a few decades from other states. And do you guys wanna guess which state is the origin of the story?" 

North narrowed his eyes, knowing full well what state Jack's first and favorite believer lived in. "Pennsylvania?" 

The winter spirit smirked. "Pennsylvania." 

"You visit there regularly, hell you _live_ there." Bunnymund rounded on him. "Why haven't you heard anything about her? Why haven't you ever seen her?" 

"Whoa," the boy spirit held his hands up defensively as he jumped onto the wind, "don't look at me like that. I tried getting to know spirits, remember? She probably just avoided me. She doesn't sound like a big fan of fun. Or cold, if she's wet all the time." 

Not to mention, Sandy attempted to point out, she was clearly a fear based spirit. They tended to work alone and wanted to be left that way. If she had thought Jack was a threat or competition she would have most likely dealt with him. That she had avoided him probably meant she didn't really care about his presence one way or another, if they even made their homes in the same parts of the state. 

"Good point." Toothiana agreed. "None of the spirits up here have seen anything, so we may have to just go back to the source." 

"A source that is four states over." The Easter spirit was quick to point out. "Spirits don't move like that without a reason. She's probably after something... or someone." 

"Then," the ex-bandit pulled out a snow globe, "we will have to find and ask her what she wants." North looked at Jack and they shared a smirk. "Burgess?" 

"Where else?" He had home team advantage there along to with a growing network of believers who were actually on the lookout for odd occurrences. 

The Christmas Spirit threw the globe, and the Guardians headed through the resulting portal. With luck they would have more answers than questions within the hour. 

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- 

"That's all we know." Toothiana ended her edited recap of the day's events for Cupcake. Though she was older than the other children of Burgess (and now a few years older than when they had all first met), she still had the same firm belief that even age couldn't dull. 

All of the children who had fought against Pitch could still see the Guardians, so the spirits thought it best to split up to find everyone quickly. Jack had shot off after Jamie, and by extension Sophie, right from exiting the portal to town. No one was surprised. Bunnymund chose to visit the skittish Monty, knowing that North could sometimes come on too strong. Sandy went to visit Caleb and Claude as the twins had a knack for communicating without words, which made it easier for them to read his sands. North had gone to see the plucky Pippa, leaving Toothiana to find Cupcake. 

Cupcake had been doing homework in her room, but was now very quiet and thoughtful. "I didn't think that was real..." 

"What do you mean?" Toothiana and her mini-selves hovered closer. 

The girl looked up, seeming very unsure. "It's an old story, more of an urban legend. Since meeting you guys I know more stuff is out there than I used to believe in, but this story sounded too... out there." She closed her book and set it on her lap. "My parents told me the story way back on a camping trip. You don't really tell this kind of story to the younger kids because... it's not like most ghost stories. So, it goes kinda like this: 

"Years and years and years ago, there was this couple who wanted to get away for a long weekend. They wanted to go camping, but the woods around town were too close. So they went further away, some say almost into the next state. Anyway, they find these woods with a river and some clearings and a whole bunch of fruit trees in it and set up camp. It's nice and cheerful during the day, but at night it got super cold. They figure it's worth the cold for how nice it is during the day so they don't leave, they just pile on the blankets inside the tent with the sleeping bags. 

"They weren't worried about wild animals, because there was nothing big out in the woods. So when it was time for sleep they just zipped up the tent and cuddled up under the blankets like it was no big thing. Some time later in the night, there were scratching sounds on the outside of the tent. It woke up the boyfriend, who thought it was just squirrels. But once he was awake, he had to go pee anyway, so he got out of the tent and went to both pee and chase off the squirrels so his girlfriend wouldn't be woken up. He climbed out of the tent, and there was nothing around it, so he went to find a tree away from where they were sleeping.  

"On his way back, his flashlight's light fell across something odd. It was the long hem of a ratty white dress, and there was someone in it. It was this little girl, a really little girl, so little they shouldn't have been out there alone little girl. He went to see if she was lost, and called out 'Hey, are you okay? Is your mommy or daddy around?' The little girl stopped and let him catch up to her, and that's when he noticed a few things. She was wet all over, like she was out in the rain, or had been swimming in the river with her clothes on. She was pale from cold and thin like she was starving. Her big eyes were hollow looking and all wrong and seemed to glow with their own light. She looked up at the man like she had just seen him for the first time. Then she said it, in this little voice, 'rawr'. It was like a little kid saying it, like when they have trouble with a new word. The guy just thought it was cute, and started to laugh. Big mistake. She gets angry at him and does it again, louder and scarier, like a wild beast. 

"He freaks out and runs all the way back to the tent and crawls inside. The girlfriend wakes up and asks 'What's going on?' He tells her everything. She says he imagined it because he probably fell asleep on the way back. She's sure it's a nightmare even though he's sure it was all real. But she gets him to calm down and go to sleep and then she does the same. The next morning she wakes up and finds the guy is dead, with a look of wide-eyed terror on his face, like he'd screamed himself to death. She freaks out and leaves, heads for the car so she can get home. When she's all buckled in and starts the car, she looks in the rearview mirror. The little girl is there, and it looks like she's eating the guy's heart. She stares at the woman through the reflection of the mirror and says 'rawr' again, in a real soft voice. 

"The woman freaked out and slammed on the gas peddle, driving as fast as she could all the way back to town. When people asked her what happened on the trip and where her boyfriend was, she'd tell them the story. No one believed her, his body was never found, so everyone thought he ran off. They did find the campsite and the tent later, but wild animals had gotten to it and trampled everything so they had no evidence about anything. There was just this story. She eventually had to be committed because she couldn't stand children and started seeing the little girl everywhere. But to her dying day, she swore it was all true." 

The Tooth Fairy just frowned at the tale. It was similar to what they're heard from Emily, especially the description of the little girl-spirit (if it was a simple fear spirit). "And that's the only version of the story?" 

"No," Cupcake settled back into her chair, "some versions say the woods are closer to town, but still outside the limits--not by Jack's pond at any rate. Some versions say the woman woke up when the guy did, but she pretended to be asleep, and she kept pretending and hid under the blankets when 'the rawr' spoke for the second time. A few versions say the police arrested her and the guy's family charged her and that she later killed herself after going completely mad. But all the versions agree on one thing: you don't answer 'the rawr' if you want to live. If you hear it once and leave her alone, you're okay. If you don't answer her or pretend you're asleep she'll leave you alone since she can't tell the difference between real sleep and pretend sleep. But if you hear it more than once and go to sleep, you never wake up and end up being scared to death by your dreams." 

"That's pretty gruesome. And you're sure she ate the guy after he was dead?" 

"Maybe. Jury is still out on that. Someone might have added it to the story to make it scarier." 

"Possibly." The fairy queen's face screwed up in thought. "It's strange though. This place has been Jack's home for the last three-hundred years, I'm surprised they haven't met or he hasn't heard of this story." 

"Well, how common are spirits around the world? I know different parts of Pennsylvania have their own myths, and Jersey has its own devil, but around here we only have 'the rawr' and Jack. And we only just got Jack. 'The rawr' spirit could be as old as him or older, and we just never knew about her until she started scaring humans to death. Maybe find out what woods she came from and see if there are any other spirits around there who know her." 

"Or maybe know of her," which was a short list. Whatever the spirit really was they sounded more and more like a fear spirit, and there was only one being she was sure would have any knowledge about a fear spirit or why they would suddenly leave their territory. "Thanks, Cupcake, I better go tell the others about this. Oh, and if Jamie or anyone tries to go looking for this 'rawr' thing? Stop them." 

The girl smirked. "Will do. I think fighting one evil spirit trying to destroy the world was enough for our lifetime." 

"Alright, take care of yourself and your teeth!" 

"Tell the other Guardians I said 'hi' and that you should visit more often, like when the world isn't in danger?" 

The fairy queen gave a bit of a laugh. "Okay, okay, we'll work on that." With that she flew off to regroup with the others. 

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- 

The Guardians had all agreed to regroup back at Jack's pond, seeing as it was relatively safe and away from where the children would overhear them. They didn't need the young ones getting any ideas. It quickly became apparent, once they started comparing notes, that Toothiana was the only one to have found anything out. 

"You know what this means, right?" She looked around worriedly at the others. "We'll have to find and talk to Pitch." 

"Whoa, no, just backtrack a bit there." Jack perched on the hook of his staff. "The Boogeyman doesn't _like_ us, and won't just help us. Even if he did like us, he's out of commission in his hole in the ground. We can't really go to him and expect to get any help. We have to find 'the rawr' on our own!" 

"Oh, and where do we start looking?" Bunnymund shot back. "If you weren't paying attention, Tooth's story doesn't have many useful details in that respect. We got no idea where to start looking for this spirit's origins. We hardly know where to find her now--which is a blessing, because we only found out about her when she started murdering humans in large numbers. I'd rather not be able to find her for that reason again." 

"Then we will have to find Pitch, and be ready to bargain for information." North reached into his vast coat and produced yet another snow-globe. 

Jack hopped down from his staff to look the Christmas spirit over. "Did you just... stock up on those before we left?" 

"Yes." The cossack replied evenly. "Knew we would need to do lots of traveling and in great hurry. Came prepared." He handed the globe to Jack. 

"Uh--" 

"You are one who has been to Pitch's lair most recently. Should be fresh in mind. Just think of there, and do what I've done before." 

"Right." The young spirit gazed into the depths of the glass orb for a long moment before lifting it to his lips. "Pitch's lair." With that he tossed the snow-globe, opening a portal to the Boogeyman's home. One by one they stepped through, not sure what would await them on the other side.

 

 

Wherever the Nightmare realm was, it was dark and dank. The sound of dripping water constantly permeated the air. Everything looked like it was decaying, even the stone-face walls seemed to be wearing away. The stairs still twisted up and down endlessly into infinite paths, and the stalactites looked ready to fall with a strong breeze. The wind was still, even if it could reach Jack down here, making the air smell stale. Occasionally there was a faint sound, like the distant march of hooves scraping over rock. 

They didn't see any Nightmares, nor any signs of Pitch himself. The realm itself felt unused and empty, but that was impossible as the Nightmare King had to still be down there somewhere. No one had seen him on the surface since that Easter... 

Sandy's natural glow was the only light in the caves, and they stayed close as they moved through the shadowed tunnels. It was like the dark was playing with them, causing the shadows at the edge of the light to jump and flicker, making more than one of them wonder if it was just a trick of the eye. Nothing came out and attacked them, however, so they pressed on. 

The deeper they pressed, at least it felt like they were going deeper, the thicker the pressure of stagnation became. Everything down there was in disuse, crumbling and failing more than on the paths above. It was, Sandy related, a reflection of the Boogeyman's power. The darkness was denser, more wild and deadly, hiding mundane and supernatural dangers alike. One loose stone underfoot could send the non-fliers over the edge of a dilapidated bridge into a bottomless chasm of night, and while they couldn't see the Nightmares the Guardians did hear them. The lopsided trotting never ventured close enough to the light for their equine forms to be made out, but now and then there was a flash of burning gold. But when the Sandman sent his light to investigate, there was nothing to be found. 

Eventually the paths converged into a wider area, much like a ballroom with a high vaulted ceiling lost in shadows. There was debris from fallen stalactites, dashed statues and the rotting remains of what looked to be an oversized birdcage. The birdcage was a questionable sight, and none of them really wanted to think what it could have been used for, though it did beg the question of where the metal object had come from in the ruins where everything else was stone. Above them the answer only raised more questions. Though the ceiling was lost in darkness there were hundreds upon hundreds of other cages hanging from it just within visible range. They were similar to the cages Jack had seen the tiny fairies kept in during the bulk of Pitch's coup, only more solid. The ones the fairies had been in had wires stretched like mesh between thick swaths of metal, whereas these seemed almost solid cocoons with vent slits between the wide bars. 

There was still something ominous about the fallen cage and they moved to quickly pass it by. But not before something on it caught Bunnymund's eye. "Are those teeth marks? Hey Tooth! Does this look _chewed_ on to you?" 

The group halted as the fairy in question flew back over to examine the bones of the cage. "Huh, these do look a little like teeth marks, from something big." She squinted at the ragged edges where the metal had been twisted and bent with raw preternatural strength. "There's stuff on it." 

"Do not touch." North cautioned, just as Sandy brought his light and Jack over. "We do not know what it is or could happen." 

The Easter spirit was sniffing around where Toothiana had been pointing. "This is... lead. This cage is made out of lead, and something is growing on it." His brows furrowed in consternation. "I know every plant on this rock, and that's a fungus I've never seen. I'd love to take a sample for when I'm back in the Warren." 

Sandy shrugged, just as long as the large rabbit was quick and careful with what he was doing then the Sandman wouldn't mind being a source of illumination for his endeavors. Bunnymund was already reaching for the tools inside the egg capsules on his bandolier. With nothing better to do, Jack and North looked out into the gloom staying just inside the circle of light the fallen star cast. Even though they had yet to run into anything they weren't about to let their collective guard down, it would have been a surefire way to attract unwanted attention from the wild horses. Though, Jack mused, it would also present an irresistible opportunity for Pitch. Maybe that was just the thing they needed to draw the Boogeyman out into the open, rather than trying to find him. 

"This cage was chewed through." Toothiana's voice snapped Jack out of his musings. "The kind of jaw strength it would take to chew through hardened lead... this isn't even normal lead. There's something about it that's off." 

"Tempered to hold in dark things." Bunnymund's automated collector finished scooping some of the fungus colony and whatever black tar it was feeding off of/producing into its container before sealing and sterilizing itself. "I know it's not mixed with star silver, but it blocks light and shadow. Might even absorb light. Sandy," he picked up the cleaned capsule before turning to the dreamweaver, "you feeling a bit drained?" 

The golden star shook his head 'no', but did indicate he didn't feel all that comfortable near the cage. He would have appreciated it if they could all move on now. 

"No complaints here, mate. The sooner we find Pitch the better." The pooka slotted the capsule into a safe loop where it wasn't likely to be hit and cracked open if he needed to fight. With that done they moved off again. 

They didn't have to go far before they found another fallen cage, in much the same state as the last one, but looking less like one side had ben chewed through and more like the ribcage of a gutted beast. There was other rubble around it, mostly stone hunks and a few lumps of twisted metal too. This cage also had things growing on it, but there was more of the black, viscus, tarry substance on it. Bunnymund collected another sample, just to compare, before they moved on. They wound through the darkened room, every so often finding themselves coming across more large broken objects of suspect origin. The upper half of a once towering statue pointed off into the distance where it lay shattered on the ground by a toppled chair. The distance itself was filled with the broken remains of a stalagmite as if something had run headlong into it causing the whole thing to burst wide and shower small boulders everywhere. Further in, where Sandy's light could reach, there was only one way to describe what they could see: they were in the middle of a battlefield. 

"Whatever was fighting down here, I hope we don't manage to run into it." Jack's flicked his eyes around nervously, trying so vary hard not to think about the first time he'd been in the lair. "It can keep the rocks." 

"But only Pitch should be here, with his Nightmares." North paused. "Though, they were not so friendly with him at the end. Could be that they were fighting him and each other to cause all this." 

"We'll be sure to ask him when we find him." The Easter spirit grumped. He then drew up short and started to sniff the air. Bunnymund swiveled his ears, trying to pinpoint something, some sound. Just when the others thought he had lost whatever he was looking for, he pointed out into the darkness. "That way. We need to look over there." 

Without further prompting, Sandy floated in that direction followed by the other spirits. 

It was yet another fallen cage, slightly more intact than the others, though still missing its door. Instead of the fungus it was covered in corroded looking black tarry vines that seemed to pulse and throb in time with an invisible heart. 

Jack gave the whole lump a dubious look. "Are they alive?" 

"Feels like it." The Spring spirit didn't even bother to look around before peering down into the open cage. "Bloody oath." 

"What is it?" Toothiana and her mini-fairies fluttered over to look in as well. The fairy queen gasped in shock while her little selves all trilled in fear and looked for places to hide. 

North was the next to push forward as Sandy floated closer to provide light. The boy spirit climbed up onto the Cossack's broad shoulders so that she too could look down into the cage. He instantly wished he hadn't. 

Inside the fallen cage was a comatose Pitch Black. He had the dried remains of tar-like fluids (perhaps his own blood?) streaming from his eyes, nose and mouth, even a few streaks from his ears. His robe was little more than fabric scraps, and everywhere his skin was exposed was mottled with dark bruised spots. He was covered in cuts, bites, and other indistinct wounds which might have just been from the natural hazards of the environment. What was further disturbing was how the vines on the outside of the cage seemed to be sprouting from and growing out of him, like the roots of a corpse plant. Though, given his emaciated and battered state, perhaps the comparison wasn't that far off. 

"We need to get him out of here, out of this, someplace where he can be looked at properly." Bunnymund rationalized aloud. "Can't get anything out of him as long as he's out like this. Red, I hate to say it, but I think he'll be better at your place." 

"Natural healing of Warren would be better, no?" The Christmas spirit pointed out. 

"True. But I don't like what he's covered in. He might be contagious to what's growing in my home. And when he wakes up, you'll have all those Yetis to watch him." He wasn't about to bring up the issue of beds and food or how North still had that one guest room set aside from when MiM had invited Pitch to be a Guardian. He had long been past the point of ever thinking those rooms would be used, but it looked like the toy maker was about to prove them all wrong for doubting him. 

"If you are sure." The Christmas spirit started to look the bound shadow over. "Could cut him out. We do not want plants to keep feeding from him." 

"They probably won't like it if you do that." Bunnymund started to pull out his boomerangs anyway. 

"They might not be the only ones protesting," Toothiana looked up from where she was examining the cage. "More teeth marks." 

"There are teeth marks on _him_. I think we can all see a lot of somethings will be unhappy if we take away their food away." The youngest Guardian shivered at the idea that Pitch had probably been almost literally consumed by his own fears, or whatever it was the Nightmares attacked him with. Not a fate he'd wish on anyone, even the Boogeyman. 

North drew his swords, slicing through the silence of the room before he began to slice through the palpitating vines. The Boogeyman jerked violently, but did not wake, as the vines began to ooze with the same black tar found on the other cages. 

Sandy looked on grimly. Well, he half expected that. Considering how close dreams were to nightmares he had a sinking feeling that those vines were far more than just vines, and all the black fluid scattered over Pitch's lair used to be inside of Pitch. There was, however, no other way for them to go about this if they wanted to get him out before they were noticed. The small wishing star just had to trust that the Nightmare King was made of sterner stuff and couldn't be destroyed by their actions. 

Bunnymund tried to help dig the dark spirit out with his boomerangs. Jack used his staff to help levy Pitch up from the bottom and side of the cage so that the others could cut him off from the ropey vines under him. Throughout all of this Pitch never woke or screamed, though his mouth fell open as if he were screaming. Toothiana kept watch with her mini selves, which was why she was the first to notice. 

"Guys, stop." The fairy queen hissed. It took a few minutes for them all to stop what they were doing and quiet down. "Do you hear that?" 

"I don't hear anything." Jack answered. 

Bunnymund frowned. "Neither do I, and that's not good." The large rabbit started to look around the room. 

North was busy holding up the halfway freed Boogeyman so that he wouldn't fall back down into the muck filling the bottom of the cage. The more of him they uncovered the worse off he looked. He was skin and bones with hardly enough skin to stretch over his visible bones. He was stretched taut as a drum-skin covering over sharp points. None of the wounds looked self-inflicted from what he could see, but with all the other abuse the horses could have piled on top of him it might have just been covered up by something else. 

Once the Guardians stopped moving, everything in the area stopped moving. There was no sound of anything, either the water of before or the constant hoofbeats of Nightmares. There was only the eerie silence. After a few minutes of nothing happening, Jack tried to go back to what they had been doing before Toothiana had stopped them. But with a gentle and firm hand on his shoulder they were able to keep him from making other sudden movements. 

From their hight, and with the advantage that gave them, Sandy and Toothiana were the first to see a change. It was at the edge of the light, just where they wouldn't have been looking if they didn't know, a single Nightmare with her head down almost to the floor. She looked different than the other Nightmares they had seen, more horse like, however she was still a dangerous creature. The black beast looked just as rail thin as her king, with a lanky mane falling over both sides of her stretched neck. That addition alone sent warning flags racing through the dreamweaver's brain. Her eyes weren't the burning gold of stolen dream-sand but a feral yellow covered by the milky film of death. She took a step into the light and the dragging, scraping sound of hooves over stone returned. There was something wrong with one of her front legs, but obscured by the mane as it was they couldn't make out exactly what was off. 

"It's only one." Bunnymund readied his weapons. "No worries." They had fought off a whole herd before, this wasn't even a mild concern. 

The Nightmare took another step further into the light, and lifted her head. 

"Strewth." 

The mare's bottom jaw had been dislocated and her mouth was gapping open. Moreover, it was nothing but black bones back to her emaciated throat. Around her mouth on her upper jaw looked like the skin and flesh was starting to decay and exposed her teeth. Her front left leg was bone up to the knee, and the back right leg was twisted to the point where her hoof pointed out perpendicular to her body. As deathly thin as the rest of her was her middle was swollen and heavy, rounded to the obscene. She gave a guttural shudder of sound that might have been a neigh once, but now was more like an otherworldly moan. 

Bunnymund threw one of his boomerangs and hit the mare in the neck. It tangled in her mane and didn't decapitate her nor caused her to burst into a cloud of sand. 

North swore. "Tooth!" He couldn't use his swords with his hands full of holding up the Boogeyman. 

The Tooth Fairy zipped down to grab onto Pitch and help pull him out of the cage. Bunnymund recovered from the ineffectiveness of his main weapons and pulled out one of his grenade-like eggs to toss at the equine. Jack continued to levy Pitch up since his staff was more or less wedged under the man. 

The egg bomb didn't even phase the Nightmare. 

Sandy lashed out at the creature with his whips, signing at the others to keep digging out Pitch. The mare backed away from the crack of his whips, but didn't try to flee. She circled, tired to find a different way to get to her prey. Sandy attacked again, and the dream-sand caught her along the side. She made a sickening sound before stomping forward. The wishing star feinted to the right and then bolted to the left and attacked again. The whip sliced through her bloated middle. 

But the mare didn't dissipate. Instead she screamed and fell into two halves, her innards spilling out onto the ground. Apparently she had been fat on thick black tar and ropey vines, like the ones growing out of Pitch. A pool of muck was fast forming around her split form and it bubbled and writhed like it was something alive. The back end of the horse continued to twitch while the front hooves pawed and scraped at the ground, like the mare was still trying to get up. Sandy grimaced and turned away to check on the others, he knew how this bad dream was about to play out and they needed to leave sooner rather than later if they wanted to make it out of the lair whole. 

The pooka was using tools to dig at or cut the vines rather than touching anything with his bare paws. Jack was still lifting Pitch with his staff while both North and Toothiana pulled him out of the cage by his shoulders. His torso was out, they just had to get everything from his hips down free. 

With a sigh, the Sandman turned back to the unwelcome sight before him. The goo and vines of the pool latched onto the exposed spine and bones of both halves of the horse. From the front half the substances rebuilt a back end for her, and they rebuild a front end for the other half. However, both newly constructed halves were completely skeletal, without sinew or fat or any kind of meat. It left the view to the inside of the still flesh covered halves unobscured, leaving all their faux organs on display. The vine-bones continued to pulse and throb to the same heartbeat as the ones entangling Pitch. 

The two Nightmares moaned and whined as they tried to claw their way back up onto their feet. They wanted to feed, and Sandy was no longer sure they only wanted to feast on the Boogeyman. What he was sure of was if he kept fighting them than they would keep multiplying. He'd have to try crippling them without cutting them to pieces. Behind him he could hear the others bantering and yelling to each other, trying to work quickly to rescue the unconscious Nightmare King. The Guardian of dreams lashed out with his whip again to startle the mares and keep them from collecting themselves a little longer. 

They screamed again, but didn't flinch away. The horse with the skeletal front half made it to her feet, the tar still on the floor spilling up her legs, trying to fill out her bones. Her unbroken jaw clacked as she tossed her head back and forth in a threatening manner, then she lowered her head and tried to charge. However, her back leg was still twisted, which caused her to stumble and scream. Sandy got his whip around one of her front legs and pulled it out from under her just as the other mare clambered back onto her feet. 

Jack's litany of, "Come on, come on, come on," reached the dreamweaver's ears as he sent his second whip to tangle with the newly risen mare. It struck the side of her fleshy face and disoriented her, but she didn't go down. The mare that was down was trying to get up. Sandy could see that her tail was like the other's mane, that they looked less made of black sand and more covered in black fur. But they clearly were still made out of black sand, sand that was behaving strangely but still sand none the less. 

"Alright!" Jack crowed out, just seconds before dropping down to Sandy's side. "Leave it to me." He aimed his staff at the horses waiting only for the Sandman to get his dream-sand weapons out of the way. He let loose with a tremendous crack of frost and cold, sweeping both the Nightmares up in a frozen wave of ice. It was a solid block encasing the both of them, preventing them from moving or multiplying. 

"He's almost out, Sandy! We need you!" Toothiana called from where she was straining to pull against the living binds tying Pitch to the cage. 

Jack and Sandy rushed back over to the cage where the fallen star shone as brightly as he could so the others could see what they were doing. Jack was about to freeze the last of the vines but Sandy smacked his head to stop him. 

"What was that for?" 

Sandy crossed his arms in an X, indicating that it was a bad idea. His sands took on the images of the vines and roots around Pitch and equated them not to plants, but nerves. 

"Wait, wait these are--are we cutting _into_ Pitch?!" The Easter spirit howled. 

Sandy nodded. More or less. Hey, this was the nightmare realm, everything here was symbolic just as it was in the dream realm. Pitch was trapped inside himself and they had to free him from his own personal nightmares. (At least, that's what he interpreted to be going on.) 

With that unsettling revelation, the Guardians worked harder at freeing the last of the Boogeyman's body. Just because the mares were frozen didn't mean there were no others. Sandy also didn't want to point out that the ice was melting and that the horses were still aware inside their prison. 

The last of the vines were cut free just as the ice around one mare's head exploded. She snorted and began rocking back and forth in her wintery prison, trying to topple herself over and break the rest of the way out. 

"We need to go, we need to go!" Bunnymund chanted. 

"He's almost out!" Toothiana shouted back. 

"Cannot reach snow-globe like this. Little fairies?" 

Sandy readied his whips just as the mini-teeth dove into North's pockets for another snow-globe. The mare was still rocking and braying, clearly unhappy with what was going on. Pitches feet cleared the opening of the cage just as the block of ice tipped sideways and shattered, breaking up around the mare rather than breaking her into chunks. 

"No time for a snow-globe." The pooka lifted his foot, while Toothiana and North set Pitch down on the ground. 

"That won't get us into the workshop!" The fairy queen cried. "In this condition, Pitch could--" 

"Trust me, he'll live!" They could use one of North's trinkets when they weren'tfacing down death-mares. With that he did a quick double tap and opened a tunnel, dropping the whole party of them into it and leaving the Nightmares a world behind. 

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- 

He gradually became aware of himself, in that way one starts to wake after something has disturbed their room without directly interacting with them. He was someplace warm with something soft cushioning his back. So, not anywhere inside his own lair. Pitch's first instinct was to continue to feign sleep so he could learn what was happening in peace. Someone had obviously gone to the trouble of digging him out of his home, dealing with the Nightmares to get to him, and all the other hazards his space contained. Either someone wanted him for something or they genuinely felt bad for him. He was inclined to think it was the former as the latter meant there had to be spirits out there who still liked him enough to come and save him from himself. That list was short and one of the names on it had helped to put him in the situation. 

Unfortunately his plans to keep 'sleeping' were thwarted by his yet named benefactor. They poked at his cheek to prod him awake, and when that failed he started to rub the tip of Pitch's nose. It was irritating and would have made the Boogeyman sneeze if he hadn't turned his head to the side. "Fine, fine, I'm awake now. Are you happy with yourself?" Pitch opened his eyes to glare at the annoying party--the Sandman. Who else would know the exact moment he awoke? It probably had everything to do with the fact Sanderson was watching his dreams and could tell when they had ended--but his surroundings caught his attention. 

He was somewhere in Santoff Claussen with a good deal of light and a great many beds... and Yeti. The ruffians had simple weapons--swords, spears, the likes of them--and were watching Pitch incase he so much as twitched in the wrong direction. After being locked away for however long underground the Boogeyman was understandably famished, so it was nice that his host was considerate enough to give him such fearful guards. Pitch smirked, and that just unsettled them more. Oh he could recover splendidly here where their fear of him was so fresh. 

The Sandman lightly smacked the side of his face, causing him to look away from his current meal. No matter, he was still able to feed even if he wasn't directly looking at his victims, so long as they continued to fear. "What do you want, Sanderson?" Until he knew that, it behooved him to at least be civil with the glowing cream-puff. 

As one of the few spirits who could understand him without fail (more or less), Sandy let his sands spill out into elaborate images to explain the situation. _We have need of you._  

"I can see that." Pitch's eyes narrowed. "You lot locked me in the earth. I wouldn't expect charity from the likes of you." 

 _Perhaps charity is just what we have to offer._ Sandy smirked. _You are in no position to refuse us, really._  

"Ah, because I'm to be indebted to you for rescuing me? Hardly. You put me in there, you made your own problem to rescue me from." He smiled nastily as the small dreamweaver frowned darkly at him. "Tell me, did it finally happen? Did you all finally achieve your 'world without fear'? And how far did that get? How soon were the humans destroying themselves because they feared **nothing** , no longer concerned about the repercussions to their own actions?" Pitch chuckled at the idea, it would serve them all right if the world had come to that. He had tried to warn them when they first wanted him to join that the world needed fear, needed what he did. They had been lucky the last time they had brought him low but now, oh now, they would see how foolish their plans were. 

The shooting star sighed, and gave him a cool look. _None of that has come to pass. Nor were we naïve enough to think you would help in thanks for being pulled from your hole in the ground. We've employed... other means._ Sandy smiled as Pitch furrowed his brows in confusion. 

"What are you playing at, Sanderson?" 

 _Look down._  

Pitch blinked, then looked down at himself. He was wearing a borrowed _something,_ which looked like a festive Christmas tree had exploded over him. Shadows, he'd have to replace it as soon as he was able to manifest his own robe again. That couldn't have been what the annoying thorn in his side had meant, so he continued to look around until he at last leaned over the side of the bed to see the floor under him. His eyes widened as his pupils contracted down into pinpricks. "You..." He whipped around with inhuman speed to hiss and snarl at the damned Guardian of Dreams. "A _Nightmare Trap_? You would **dare** use one of those?!" They had painted the spider-web like pattern onto the floor under the bed giving him no room to actually leave the bed, or even stand next to it. But the bed was encompassed by the full outer circle of the inky pattern, so he had no bridge, no way to escape the drawing until someone outside of it erased part of the web. Sandy then pointed to the doors. "Dreamcatchers?!" Pitch roared. With a smug look the Guardian pointed to the space over the Boogeyman's head. With growing dread he turned to look at the wall behind him. There was yet another ward against him nailed to the wall. "Really?!" 

 _The Nightmares would have come for you if we hadn't taken precautions._  

"Yes, and they just so happen to be effective against me." He dramatically threw himself back down onto the mattress. 

 _Well, you are their king..._  

"You're all horrible, you know that?" 

 _That's subjective. The same has been said about you._  

"I'm misunderstood." 

 _Oh, poor baby. Let me just forget about that time you nearly destroyed the world in the name of petty revenge._  

Pitch hunched in on himself, forcing his back deeper into the mattress and the blankets to bunch higher around him. "You destroyed mine. Turnabout is fair play." 

Sandy scowled. _You were getting out of hand. The humans were rioting and burning witches every day. They weren't even real witches! We cut your power but we didn't try to end you. We wouldn't have_ had _to reduce you if you had just not taken things too far, endangered everyone. You preach that fear has a purpose, but you were frightening humans for no reason. We also never endangered your life. When you attacked us, disrupted Easter, you could have killed all life on this world!_  

The Boogeyman snorted. "You all think too highly of yourselves." 

Sandy just gave him a look. _You do know Bunny is the source of all life on this world?_  

Pitch blinked. "Who with the what now?" 

 _Bunny. Guardian of Hope, bringer of Spring. New life, new beginnings._  

"But Mother Nature--" 

 _Yeah, it shocked us too._  

Now the dark spirit was on the defensive. "Well if you didn't know, how was I supposed to know?!" 

Sandy conceded that it was a fair point, but still maintained Pitch went too far for revenge in 'killing' him. 

Pitch pulled the blankets up to his chin. "If you're attempting to guilt me into cooperating, don't. I'd have to actually feel guilty for anything I've done. And dreams exist without your help. You were less dead and more absorbed for a time. Frost did more damage to you by exploding all the nightmare-sand you'd turned into." 

The dreamweaver threw his hands into the air. _I'm not going to argue semantics with you! You'll help because you're inside that trap and won't get out until you agree to our terms._  

"Yes, yes, when all else fails compulsion magic should do the trick. Just forego the 'holier than thou' act when you enlighten the others to that little quirk of the spell." Because he hardly thought Sanderson would divulge such information at the start, lest he lose some of that 'innocent dreamer' reputation. (Besides, why stand watch alone if not to bring up the very point without worrying what the others would think of his underhanded tactics?) 

Sandy only shook his head. _I liked you back when you were humble, before you got a taste of too much of a good thing. You used to be so much better than this. You could have been so much better than this._ A life ago Pitch had been a different man, a Golden General of Golden Armies. Sandy had been inspired by those stories, like many young star pilots were, like just about everyone in the Empire was. He had heard the news of that man's tainting and wept with his fellow stars. Gone was the hero of always to be replaced by a horror-shade wearing his face like a mask. Sandy had been willing to give Pitch a chance once, at the dawn of Earth's time, when everything was more equal between them. They had always been civil with each other, always, until... 

"Wandering in dreams again?" Came the Boogeyman's bored tone piercing through his thoughts. Sandy only blinked away his memories and sighed. 

"Well then, what are you waiting for? A formal invitation? What are these terms I'm to agree to?" He suppressed the urge to yawn and return to sleep. The yetis were still tense, but less fearful the longer he spoke with Sanderson. What little fuel their fear had been giving him was fast drying up, leaving him with only the rudimentary ways of healing himself. 

The Sandman smiled, just a little, and started to fill the Boogeyman in on their current situation. The more he told the other ancient spirit, the more Pitch frowned and glowered. By the end he wasn't even really paying attention to Sandy's signs and the dreamweaver had to repeat himself now and then. When he came to the end of his story he waited expectantly for the Nightmare King to either agree to help or start asking questions. 

"You're all idiots." 

He should have figured Pitch would take the third option of complaining about everything. _Oh? Why are we idiots now?_  

"You think I'm responsible for all the wrong in this world. I'm flattered, really, but even I can't claim that." He closed his eyes, sighing to himself. "At least you worked out I had nothing to do with those deaths." 

 _I know your style._  

"I like being able to come back for repeat feedings." 

 _Yes, there was that._  

Pitch settled into the pillows. "I have a few ideas about what type of fear spirit is doing this." Sandy raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Yes, there's more than one type of fear spirit out there. You know there's more than one thing capable of causing mundane nightmares in the world, so are there many kinds of fear spirits. I _am_ fear, but I'm not the only one who invokes it. Like Death, I'm omnipresent. Unlike them I only have myself and my mares, rather than armies of bodies and vessels. And now I don't even have my mares to help with my duties." He stopped short at that phrase, and frowned at the taste it left in his mouth. 'Duties', since when had he had _duties_? A calling, a purpose? Yes. Duties? He was no Guardian nor a god and thus he was bound to no one but himself. 

Sandy waved a hand before his eyes. _Now who's wandering in his own thoughts?_  

The dark spirit just frowned at him. "Cheeky little upstart." 

 _I'm as old as you._  

"I said what I meant!" He huffed and snuggled further into the blankets. 

Rather than raise to the bait, Sandy waited for Pitch to continue on his previous thought. He knew the other would circle back to it... eventually. 

He didn't have long to wait. "Young girl-spirit, who uses fear to scare her victims to death. Does she feed on the terror found only in death-throes? Or is death a side-effect of what she's after? The bodies haven't been eaten, have they?" 

Not as far as Sandy knew. 

"Rules out a few possibilities then. Means they don't want the material goods or parts of the body. Public deaths, or at least easily found out about deaths means that it doesn't want to assume the life of its victims either." Pitch leaned back to gaze at the ceiling. "This bed is too comfortable." 

 _That's a problem?_  

"I'm going to fall asleep." 

 _You'll be able to wake up._  

"It's not going to be a light sleep. You won't be able to wake me at your convenience like this time. I know I'm safe here now." 

Sandy frowned. _How long do you usually sleep?_  

"I don't." 

The Sandman's eyes widened in disbelief. 

"Really, I don't. I could go centuries between naps, once. I haven't slept this much in _eras_. At my best I just simply forewent sleep altogether. It was optional for me then. It was optional for me even after we all had our first proper fight. I won't bore you with the details but I didn't start sleeping again until after the feral mares dragged me into my own house and sealed me inside with them." Granted it was less 'sleeping' and more 'screaming until he passed out'. Either way the mares were able to feed on him, so it was all probably the same thing in the grand scheme of things. 

The golden Guardian shuddered. _What do you need to stay awake?_  

"Food. The more fearful the better." 

 _Joy. How about some eggnog or a Christmas ham? North has plenty of cookies too._  

Pitch gave the Sandman a long suffering look. "Tea. Without rum or any other libations in it. I'll stomach his feasts if they are primarily meat. Serve me vegetables at your own risk." The cookies at least would have sugar, and that could give him enough of a buzz to stay awake. "Maybe coffee, if this is a real emergency." 

The Sandman gave a wry smile. _So picky._ But he turned to go all the same. 

"Not picky," Pitch called after him, "just limited in what I can eat!" The door closed leaving him to guess what the Guardian's retort was. With his only source of entertainment gone, the Boogeyman flopped back down into the bed. Well if they wanted to keep him awake this certainly was not the way to go. He might fall asleep as a mental defense against boredom if nothing else. As dull as they could all be, having any of the Guardians here to talk to at least provided a distraction from the incessant tug of sleep. As did the heady smell of fear ripening in the room around him. "Oh, hello," the Nightmare King purred smoothly as he looked back at the yetis guarding him. Their fear of him spiked and he smiled. 

Okay, so maybe he could forgive Sandy just a little for leaving him with something to nibble on while he waited. 

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X- 

It took four solid days of nursing Pitch back to health for the dark spirit to recover to a functional level. Near the beginning there had been a fiasco involving Starbucks 'beverages' (Pitch would forever refuse to acknowledge the drinks as a form of coffee) that had the Boogeyman spewing bile and tarry blood again, followed by much ranting and dramatic posturing. From then on the Guardians just stuck to getting him exactly what he asked for, within reason, rather than risking substitutions. 

During that time the attacks on humans continued. Human police were still calling it a serial killer, but the attacks were happening in different parts of the world. The child-spirit, whoever 'she' happened to be, was no longer confined to the North Eastern part of the United States. Toothiana was still receiving teeth from the occasional victim, but there were no further clues about any rhyme or reason behind the attacks. The targets seemed to have nothing in common. 

While he was laid up in the medical wing, under constant (fearful) watch, Pitch whittled the list of possible spirits 'she' could be down to a select handful of races. There just wasn't enough information for him to go on to put a name with her unseen face. On the up side, that meant there were fewer places they had to go to get information on finding her and that it would be fairly accurate. The down side was this was because there were fewer spirits who would know anything about dealing with a _child_ fear spirit. If she was genuinely a fear spirit, and Pitch didn't want to think about what to do if she wasn't. 

Also, while he was still bound to the space inside the Nightmare Trap, the Guardians attempted to entreat him to joining their cause. It was almost shameless what they tried to tempt him with. They all but forced Guardianship on him, as only the willing could take the oath. He knew it wasn't because they had suddenly 'forgiven him' or had a change of heart, but by taking the oath they would be able to control him. For the good of the children his powers and actions would be curbed and he would be made more manageable for them. Then he would have to acquiesce to their demands as breaking his oath, or otherwise harming the children, would spell his demise. Fear, unfortunately, was not a part of childhood that needed guarding (the wisdom and caution it brought, however, was conveniently forgotten by everyone but him). So, for all their sakes, he agreed to the lesser of all evils and made a truce with the Guardians. They would all work together for at least as long as it took to resolve their current problems. After that it was anyone's guess. 

Everyone was less than thrilled, which was just how compromises were supposed to work. 

After Pitch had recovered himself, and been released from the trap, he wasted no time telling them exactly where they would be going next. Rather than beating around the bush with the more pleasant spirits, who would know considerably less, he was taking them straight to the one place on Earth he knew he could find answers: Japan. He loathed going there, however, as the people had fetishes for everything and the usual horrors of his trade ended up sexualized in ways he never wanted to know about. Usually any Nightmares he had to send there to collect fear went off drunk, just so they could handle it better. As long as the Japanese people never died out, Pitch would always have believers to feed from.... Most of them would just want him _in_ their bed rather than **under** it, and he wasn't that kind of spirit.  

But the Guardians didn't need to know all that. They could find out for themselves, and he would enjoy their awkward flailing and regretting of life choices. If he had to suffer he planned to take 'The Big Five' down with him, and he knew there were at least a half dozen different fetishes that would apply to each Guardian in turn. Their suffering would almost make it worth going to the archipelago. 

When they arrived on the asian continent, it was already nightfall. Well, they were lucky, this time. In truth the spirits Pitch needed to talk to were mostly nocturnal, so it was for the best. Using North's flying death-trap they managed to make it to a haunted wood, where Pitch enjoyed watching Frost try and fail to strike up a conversation with the ghosts of dead children. He let the young spirit muck about while the jolly fat man parked his sleigh outside the woods proper. They would be going in by foot, it things played out the way he suspected they would. 

One thing he didn't count on was the Guardian of Fun talking himself into an early grave. "Step back before you hurt yourself." The Boogeyman strode forward. 

"Hey, I'm good with kids." 

"No, you're good with humans." He pushed the winter sprite back behind him. "These spirits play the same game with everyone." Looking over his shoulder at the Guardians he continued. "They ask you if you have seen one or more of their parents. If you say 'yes', the get mad at you for lying and kill you. If you say 'no', they follow you home and kill you for not being helpful. The only way to win is to walk away and not answer. Before you ask, even 'I do not know' is not a safe answer." With that he turned forward to the gaggle of 'children' who had all gathered to investigate Jack bumbling Frost. "We aren't here to play. Someone has been attacking the humans. She's known only as 'the rawr'. Is that any of you?" 

All of the chittering children spirits went silent at that. "We don't know anything," they said as one before almost all of them vanished. The one left was a young boy-child who looked particularly rotted. 

Pitch turned his gaze to the remaining boy. "Why did you stay?" Sometimes it paid to play their games. 

The nameless boy just smiled with the still working half of his face. "She's old. Really old. We see her sometimes when we walk. We always knew about her." 

"So you'll help us, because...?" He knew it wouldn't be for any pleasant reasons. 

"We'll get to watch. It's sad that it won't be one of us, but we'll get to watch and enjoy your pain that way." The urchin giggled and turned to walk deeper into the unnatural woods. 

Pitch sighed. "Well, that's about how I expected it to go. Come along." He started after the ghost boy. "No telling what will happen to us if we get separated." He wasn't disappointed to hear several pairs of footsteps following behind him. 

But he was disappointed when Frost started to glide along beside him. "Isn't this a trap?" 

"Clearly. It's also the fastest way to find her." 

"Aw, you do care about the children." Jack laughed, trying to make light of the situation. 

Pitch snorted. "I care about my own self preservation." He lowered his voice so that only the new Guardian could hear him. "I'm only helping because of the Nightmare Trap. They didn't tell you, did they? Any spirit caught in that trap is compelled-- _compelled_ \--to do what the caster wants of them. Oh they very well could have made me take the oath, Jack. Think on that, they had that power over me, to make me take an oath that would end up killing me if I broke it." He smirked to himself when he saw the flicker of doubt pass through the boy's eyes, it was followed by such a tantalizingly delicious yet all too brief fear. 

Jack dropped back from his side to float closer to the other Guardians, and that suited the Boogeyman just fine. He had given the sprite his chance to join him, now he was just one of those fools. Pity, he would suffer the most for taking the oath once he realized everything Pitch had told him was the truth. Well, that realization would happen in its own time, and he would be there to watch the winter spirit self-destruct. Maybe he would laugh, maybe he would just bring popcorn or whatever the hipsters of the future ate, it all depended on how irritating Frost was by the time the inevitable happened. 

The Ghost child suddenly came to a stop in an appropriately 'spooky' and disconcertingly abandoned clearing. Pitch could tell at a glance no one would hear them scream out here, even other spirits. The most they could hope for would be a spirit tied to the land coming to their rescue, and that wasn't very likely to happen with him there. 

"She's close." The ghost child looked back with an eerie smile. "This is where I hide. She'll find you if you stay here. She always finds the ones who stay here." With a manic cackle the boy vanished from sight to parts unseen. 

"Wow, that was super helpful." Jack bit out as he started to look around for their expected company. 

"It actually was." Pitch agreed, choosing to ignore the sarcastic note in the boy's tone. Jack scowled at him and Pitch just smiled more. Then Sanderson had to come over and smack the Boogeyman's thigh while Toothiana went over to distract Jack from starting a snowball fight. Really, he said he would be civil with the group not a _saint_. 

Bunnymund and North joined them in the darkening circle of the clearing. "So, wot, we just wait fer her now?" 

"More or less." Pitch didn't even bother looking at the oversized rabbit, his eyes were busy scanning the surrounding area. He was making mental notes about all the strategical advantages and disadvantages of where they were, and mapping out quick escape routes which didn't involve his shadows. He didn't want anything to go wrong but, with limited information and the Guardians in general not knowing how to deal with darker spirits, he wasn't holding out much hope for a smooth conversation. 

"At least we will be knowing when she arrives," North mused softly. "Would be very hard to overlook her in place like this." 

"You'd be surprised," Pitch murmured. 

"Should we call her out?" Toothiana zipped about in a quick circle trying to keep her back from being exposed to any one direction for too long. 

"No," the Boogeyman enunciated emphatically. "Just, no. The other children play a game only they win. She most likely does the same. We wait. Also? We would need to know her as something other than 'the rawr' to summon her." Really, what happened to common sense? Pitch turned to look away from the Guardians before his head started to ache. 

There was a little girl in white standing before him. 

"GAH!" The Nightmare King flailed wildly as he jumped backward like a startled cat. He hadn't heard her. He hadn't felt her or sensed her in any way until he saw her. Now that he had seen her he couldn't look anywhere else. Her aura was wrong, it was wrong and all consuming, something which overwhelmed even him! _What in the shadows was she?!_  

The others immediately came over to investigate. 

She was young in appearance, perhaps only a handful of human years, ten at most. Her black hair was long and fell in waves of loose curls, somehow making her face softer and less angular. She had ashen skin, somewhere between grey and dull silver. Her white dress was no simple affaire, but handsomely decorated in elaborate embroidery with long sleeves and a high collar. The tattered skirt pooled on the ground hiding her lower half from view, but what parts of her they could see seemed well enough preserved. The only oddities were the hollowness of her amber eyes and her overall dampness, like she had just come from being submerged. 

'The rawr' blinked, and tilted her head to the side. 

"This is who we've been aft--" Pitch slammed his hand over Bunnymund's mouth before he doomed them all. 

The girl-spirit blinked but seemed otherwise unfazed. 

"Um, hey," Jack knelt down to be at eye-level with the spirit, ignoring what had just happened. "Is it alright if we ask you a few questions?" 

She blinked and seemed to scrutinize Jack, then the others in turn, for a few long moments. Just when it seemed like she wouldn't answer the girl nodded once, very curtly. 

"O-oh, okay. Can you, ah, talk? Can you tell us your name?" 

The girl narrowed her eyes and gave him a look that clearly stated her feelings on how intelligent those questions were. 

"Jack? Do treat her like she's capable of more than remedial thought processes." Pitch tried to keep his voice even and not hyperventilate. 

Toothiana looked him over and fluttered to the Boogeyman's other side. "What's wrong?" She hissed. "You look scared out of your mind." 

"She terrifies me." Pitch deadpanned, not even attempting to be clever about the truth. She horrified him on a level he didn't quiet understand, and he was the living embodiment of Fear. There really needed to stop being things in the world that frightened him, it was terribly unfair. (He almost suspected she knew that she utterly terrified him.) 

North, unaware of the conversation between the Tooth Fairy and Boogeyman, moved to talk with the girl. "What Jack was meaning to ask about was, have you been... playing with humans lately?" That's what the one rumor said, that she 'played a game' with her victims. 

The rawr blinked before shaking her head no. "I don't play many games." She spoke in a slow and unsettlingly monotone voice. It was just disconcerting enough to send trills down one's back, like nails scraping along the spine. 

"That is sad to hear. All children should be able to play games." The Christmas spirit smiled down at her. 

She tilted her head in the other direction, considering his words. Eventually she hummed her agreement, nodding slightly. "More questions?" 

"A few. If that is fine?" 

"It is." 

"Good." North thought about how to phrase his next question, since it seemed Pitch was not about to speak up. "If not playing with humans, have been... around humans lately?" 

"Some." She admitted. "They don't listen well." 

"Oh? What do you mean?" 

She narrowed her eyes. "They wouldn't stay out of my woods." Her voice had dropped down a few octaves and taken on a gravely inhuman tone. The change in demeanor got everyones' attention focused back on her. "I warned them, I warned all of them. You're supposed to warn them first." 

"Yeah," Bunnymund agreed, "that's fair." He was slightly on edge before, but this was really starting to get to him. "You warned them with the 'rawr' sound?" 

"Ah huh." Just like that her voice was back to the monotone of before. 

"And when they didn't listen?" The pooka pressed. 

She smiled. "I did what I learned from daddy. I trapped them inside their own fear." But the smile turned into a pout. "I miss my daddy." 

"Busy man?" The Spring spirit ventured. 

The girl spirit shrugged. "I don't know where he is. I went looking to find him, but I only found humans." 

Sandy had been staring at the girl the whole time. There was something about her, something familiar, something he felt he should have known. He'd have to mull it over later, for now he took an opening to sign his question, _Did you start looking recently? In the past few months?_  

The rawr blinked a few times. "No, I've always been looking for daddy. I just couldn't go anywhere until now. I had my woods, and I was safe there. But my woods are gone now, so I had to leave." Her gaze drifted down to the ground. "I don't know if he can find me now that I've left. I always stayed where daddy left me before. So, I have to look for him." 

"And you were looking where the humans live?" Jack could sympathize, if he had been alone all that time waiting for someone to come back and find him--oh, wait.... He had gone right for humans at his first opportunity. 

She blinked again. "Where else should I look?" 

"Probably not where humans are." Jack smiled. "Does your dad like to hang out with humans?" 

The girl shrugged. 

Sandy's brows furrowed. _When was the last time you saw your father?_  

"Don't know." 

His frown deepened. _Do you remember where he was going?_  

"Don't know." She was starting to pout again. 

Pitch poked Toothiana and whispered a few questions into her ear, not wanting to draw any attention to himself, lest the little creature take sudden interest in him. The Tooth Fairy only looked at him askance, before turning to ask his questions. "Um, do you know who your daddy is?" 

She shook her head no. 

Toothiana bit her lip. "Do you remember what he looks like?" Another no. "What do you remember about him?" 

At this the girl smiled. "He was smart, and strong, and kept me safe. He's the one who taught me to 'fire warning shots before making a real attack'. It's fair that way." She intoned solemnly. "He made sure I knew how to stay safe. It was always important to daddy that I was safe. And it's important to me that daddy is safe too. Sometimes he worked so hard he wouldn't eat. That's why I trap the ones who don't listen in their fear, so he can eat." 

Well, that answered almost nothing. She was a terrifying little girl who was the child of a fear spirit, or something that ate fear. How lovely. Pitch wanted even less to do with this inquiry now, because even _his_ skin was crawling from being near the child. He also felt slightly ill, but that lead to ramifications he didn't want to think about. 

Bunnymund was doing his best not to shuffle from paw to paw in anticipation of leaving. "We'd help you look, if we knew more." Like a name or title or looks. She herself might have looked nothing like her 'dad', or might only have been using a glamour to lull victims into a false sense of security. 

The rawr shook her head vigorously. "Thank you, no. I have to find daddy on my own." 

"Oh, w-well then." 

The girl smiled, and somehow it seemed horrifyingly off. There was nothing overt, no serrated teeth or misaligned jaw, but there just a sense of dread and wrongness about the sight that filled them with unease. "It was a nice thought, mister bunny. Do you have more questions? I'd like to go look for daddy again." 

"Wait," Toothiana fluttered over to her side. "I don't know who your dad is, but I don't think he's amongst humans." It wasn't really a white lie, just something to make all their lives easier. "He doesn't sound like he would want to be near them if he wants you to be safe." 

The rawr seemed to really think that over. "My woods used to be far far away from humans..." 

"Right, so, maybe he left to find a safer place for the both of you, away from humans. Many spirits did that, long ago." This could work, with enough nudging maybe she wouldn't go seeking out human populations anymore. 

"Really?" 

 _Yes,_ Sandy picked up the conversation, glad that the little girl could understand his sands. (He wasn't about to ask how, he was just going to take any breaks he could get.) _Whole families of spirits moved away from humans because they didn't like how mortal were acting. Some left Earth, some made their own homes where humans couldn't get to. If your father is very old and very strong he's probably made a safe place away from humans too._  

The rawr smiled at that. "Daddy would want a new castle..." 

"See?" Toothiana encouraged. "So you don't need to bother with humans. I'm sure there are other spirits who might know something." 

The girl frowned. "Maybe. I don't like strangers." 

"Just be careful who you talk to. If they look like they could hurt you, you should probably stay away from them." Pitch spoke before he even realized he was forming thoughts. The words rolled off his tongue like it was second nature. He was shocked at himself, and went statue still with the hope the girl wouldn't focus on him. 

She did. The rawr tilted her head one way, and then the other. "You smell like me." 

"I'm good at scaring people." Inside his head he was screaming at himself to stop speaking before she... did something. But his mouth just kept running. 

"Humans?" 

"Everyone." 

That actually made her giggle. It was a cross between crunching broken glass between his teeth and the death wail of a cat. At least that's what it felt like. His sensory inputs might have all been going haywire, so everything was highly subjective. 

"It's fun scaring them." She sighed happily. "And it feeds daddy. That way everyone is happy." 

"It will attract attention." Pitch knew he was going to talk himself to death. It was pathetic, not destroyed by the Guardian's or their stupidity, he would end his own life by angering a little girl. Said little girl blinked and seemed to be listening to what he had to say, for the moment, so his mouth carried on. "Other spirits will want to stop you if you keep scaring the humans so much." 

There was a long pause as the rawr seemed to meditate on the idea. "So... don't scare humans?" 

"Scare less humans." 

"If they won't leave me alone?" 

"Yes. Just avoid them. If they come to you, that's different. Then you warn them, and if they don't leave you be..." 

She smiled, "Rawr!" It was said in the voice of a cute little girl, not threatening at all. 

She was the perfect trap, and Pitch wanted nothing more than to flee before he was caught. 

"Just a thought," Jack spoke up, "your dad feeds on fear?" She nodded. "And he's really strong?" Another nod. "Well, maybe your dad has something to do with fear? Maybe he's the source of all fear. Someone strong enough to make his own place humans can't get to should be pretty well known by other spirits." He smiled at the way her eyes lit up. 

Pitch wanted to throttle him. 

"Like a king..." The smile came back to her face. "I think... I was his princess." She nodded, more to herself than the Guardians. "Thank you. I'm going to go look for my daddy now. It was nice meeting you." She turned to go. 

 _Wait!_  

She paused, just noticing the glow of the dancing sands. 

 _What do we call you?_ If she wouldn't tell them her name, maybe she would tell them her title or something else to call her other than 'the rawr'. 

She considered again for a long moment what to say, turing back to face them fully. "I think..." Her gaze drifted up to the stars, though her eyes seemed to swallow any outside light. "... Butterfly. Daddy would know that." She looked down again. "If you find him, tell him Butterfly is safe, and looking for him." With that she turned and vanished from sight. 

Pitch let out a long wheezing breath and collapsed into a heap of Boogeyman. "You're all idiots. The luckiest idiots in the realms, but idiots. All of you." 

Jack rapped the top of his head with his staff. Pitch just glared back, too busy shaking uncontrollably inside his own skin. 

"We couldn't help her find her dad--" Toothiana started to say. 

"Did You _Want_ To?" Pitch screeched. "Could you even imagine the kind of panic they could spread if she found him?" Whoever he was. 

The fairy queen just frowned at him. "That aside, I'm sorry we couldn't help her more. She's looking for him, and that means she's going to keep running into humans, who are going to end up dead because they most likely just see a lost little girl in need of help." 

"Well," Bunnymund reasoned, "at least she won't go out of her way to interact with humans anymore. You've always had the odd tooth from a person being scared to death, right? She's not the only one to do that, and she won't be the last. Our problem was that she was making too big a habit out of it, which we did solve." 

 _Somewhat,_ Sandy replied, not that anyone but Pitch probably noticed. 

"Sanderson is right, you've only put a bandage over the main problem: she's looking for her father. Which reminds me, the truce is still on, yes?" 

"That it is!" North chimed in. 

"Lovely. I claim sanctuary at Santoff Claussen." 

"What?" 

"Sanctuary. Safety. I want to stay at the North Pole." 

"Voluntarily?" Bunnymund asked incredulously. 

"Out of all your homes it seems like the most comfortable and easiest to accommodate my tastes. That, and it's well fortified in the middle of an icy field of death and visibility." He started to pull himself up. 

"But why sanctuary?" Jack gave him a confused look. "What do you need protection from?" 

"Oh my, you know what that word means? I guess your brain isn't totally frozen solid." He ignored the glares sent his way as he finished righting himself. "I'm still recovering. Maybe I'll never be as strong as I once was. Maybe you'll never let me out of your sight again. But I have things I need to set in order, Nightmares to tame and bring to heel. You think just because I lost control of them they would fade from existence? Hardly. I based them on the original horses." It made them self-sustaining, which was nice that he didn't need to constantly maintain them so they could go out on missions for him but was also why they could turn on him and... reproduce without him. 

"So you want to regroup so you can put your house in order?" Jack folded his arms. "Hardly seems fair after what you pulled." 

"Which is why I asked if the truce was still in effect first." He put on his most infuriating smile. "It is, so I've claimed it, and can't be denied without all of you agreeing to break the truce." 

"He has a point." North conceded. "Well, still have bed for him to use--one without trap under it," he amended. Then a mischievous glint caught in his eye. "Though, could always add it later..." 

Pitch hissed, and drew into himself. "That won't be necessary. Shadows, you'll be the death of me, all of you." He sighed dramatically and started to head back towards the sleigh. Thankfully the others followed. "In fact, I'm very sure of it, which is why you owe me sanctuary." 

"Oh," Toothiana buzzed along beside him, "what makes you think that?" 

"Do you recall what Frost said to that spirit child? That her father must have something to do with fear? That he must be powerful and, of all things, the _source_ of fear?" He grit his teeth waiting for the realization to dawn on any of them. Thankfully Sanderson didn't let him down, but he knew the others wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of what the dreamweaver was trying to tell them. "Me. You fools pointed her at me. It may take six months, it may take six-hundred years, but she will eventually talk to the right spirit and ask the right questions and come to the _flawless_ conclusion that she is the daughter of the Boogeyman. Or did you all forget my title as the 'Nightmare King'? Shadows, I didn't even give myself _that_ one. Whenever she finds me, I want to be ready, for whatever kind of reunion she has planned." 

That seemed to sink in with the Guardians at least. Wonderful, they could be made to see reason. 

"What's the big deal anyway?" Jack rode along on the wind. "She's a fear spirit like you." 

Pitch could only laugh to the point he had to wipe tears from his eyes. "Oh if only. I would be proud to have her as my own. But no," he turned to look at the boy. "She is very much a Terror spirit. She could usurp my power with a bat of those innocent lashes. I want nothing to do with her until I know she won't just... absorb me, to put it kindly." Because it was more pleasant than spelling things out for them. 

It seemed to get his point across easily enough. 

"So, claiming sanctuary. Everyone on the same page now?" The other spirits nodded. "Lovely." With that he said no more as they all headed back.

It wasn't an ideal solution to the problem, Toothiana thought, but it would have to do... for now. If nothing else, they had bought time to figure out a better way to handle things.

 

**Author's Note:**

> There WILL be a continuation. Eventually. I have other projects I'm working on along with this one.
> 
> Might even have to open this AU up to the tumblr community for help...
> 
> Speaking of tumblr, have [a post to reblog](http://heartlessdarkness-mun.tumblr.com/post/67709968715/rotg-fanfic-rumor-has-it).


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